Coming this January 2022, a new pilot legal clinic called Beyond Guilt Hawai‘i will open at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. Hawai‘i Innocence Project (HIP) Co-Director, Kenneth Lawson and Associate Director Jennifer Brown are starting a new clinic at the WSRSL to help deliver access to justice to those in need. Beyond Guilt Hawai‘i will assist individuals who are formerly or currently incarcerated, and have been unfairly or overly sentenced.
This clinic, modeled after the Ohio Justice and Policy Center’s Beyond Guilt, was created by law professor and civil rights activist David Singleton. Attorney Singleton reached out to HIP Co- Director Kenneth Lawson about Hawai‘i serving as the first Beyond Guilt clinic outside of Ohio. Professor Kenneth Lawson jumped at the chance to start up the pilot clinic because, as someone who has been incarcerated and was given a second chance, Beyond Guilt Hawai‘i will similarly give others the opportunity to change their lives for the better. Lawson stated, “everyone deserves a second chance at life once he or she has paid their debt to society.”
The Beyond Guilt Hawai‘i mission will be to serve the community by offering free legal services to those with unjust sentences, train law students in the area of criminal justice, and bring together social service organizations and providers who can help those freed by the clinic successfully reenter society. This new clinic will not only provide much needed services to the community, but will also help meet the legislative and reform goals recognized by the Hawai‘i Prison Oversight Commission, HCR 85 Task Force, and Department of Public Safety.
The ACLU of Hawai‘i, Field Director Monica Espitia, stated, “this clinic can help us realize our goals of decarceration and moving our criminal legal system from a punitive to a rehabilitative model. In 2020 alone, Hawai‘i incarcerated almost 600 people for drug use, 1,100 people were re-incarcerated for parole or probation violations, and the state incarcerated over 400 kūpuna over the age of 55. The state spends over $250 million each year to incarcerate its ohana, many of whom are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders. This is money that should be used for funding community programs like the Beyond Guilt Hawai‘i clinic and reentry programs that will help us to move toward a goal of decarceration and rehabilitation.”
Beyond Guilt Hawai‘i will assist people with: Clemency (Pardons and Commutations of Life Sentences), Compassionate Release (Kūpuna, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Survivors), Drug Offenses, Record Clearing and Sealing (Expungements and Court Case Sealing), and Parole (Petitions and Hearings). People interested in applying to have their case reviewed by Beyond Guilt Hawai‘i should visit the website, complete an application, and then their case will be assigned to attorneys and law students assisting with the clinic. While the applicant’s case will be handled by Beyond Guilt Hawai‘i pro bono (for free), the costs to handle a single case in the clinic could cost thousands of dollars. As Professor Lawson stated, “freedom unfortunately isn’t free and we must rely on our generous donors to fund our legal clinics.” If you are interested in
donating to the clinic and helping free those who deserve a second chance, you can make a tax free donation through the University of Hawai‘i Foundation to the Hawai’i Innocence Fund, with a designation to the Beyond Guilt Clinic.